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Paradise Garden Introduction In India
• Techniques from different culture
• Introduced in 1528 in India by Babur, to get respite from dust and hot
• Certain ideologies &philosophies
climate of India, on the similar lines of Persian gardens.
• Teachings of Islam
• Eg. • Later Emperor Jehangir made beautiful gardens in Kashmir - Shalimar
• Alhambra in Spain, Taj Mahal , Aaram Bagh(Ram Bagh) in Agra Bagh, Nishat bagh, Chashme Shahi* Tomb Gardens - to commemorate the
dead. HumayunTomb, Taj Mahal, Itmad ud daula.
• Highly geometric and rich in iconography.
• Natural settings, least interfered, interspersed with pavilions.
Paradise Gardens
The model for the historic Islamic gardens is found in the Qur’an, which in
164 verses scattered through four chapters describes the colors, sounds,
smells, spatial elements, micro climates, trees, flowers, and waters of
Heaven.
An Islamic garden is a landscape designed according to certain ideological
principles, employing certain physical elements, and focused on certain
intentions.
The articulation of these elements and intentions is deeply rooted in the
teachings of the Islamic faith and in the culture of the Muslim people.
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Inspiration
• Influential in developing the homogeneous thinking of the designers of the typical
Islamic gardens of the Middle East were earlier civilizations, the arid environment, and
Inspiration
the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
• For thousands of years the Middle East was the stage of various old civilizations: Ancient • Earlier civilizations
Egypt, Babylon, Mesopotamia, Persia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and others. • Arid regions
• Teachings of Islam
• In less than 200 years, however. Islam swept across most of the region, adopting from
and adapting to an array of contemporary cultures.
• Horticulture ideas from Persia
• Agriculture technique from Egypt
• This evolutionary development succeeded in blending the horticultural talents of the • Irrigation technique and dry farming from Arabia, North Africa
Persians, the agricultural skills of the Egyptians, and the experience in irrigated and dry
farming of the bedouins of Arabia and North Africa.
• It is natural for every nation to build in its own way, first borrowing from the past and
then passing to future generations its own special achievements.
Morphology
• Square enclosures, Design elements
• Symmetrically divided into four
equal parts Delineated by slightly • Axial planning
elevated walks • Rectangular patterns
• Water channels that create the • Simplicity
garden type known as the chahar
• Clarity
bagh(four-fold garden).
• Delicacy
• Iconic form, the chahar bagh is said
to have strong symbolic association • discipline
with paradise gardens, the
"gardens underneath which rivers
flow.-that await all faithful Muslims
who have done goodworks at the
Day of Judgment
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SHARED DESIGN ELEMENTS
The most common were :-
• Planned in axial rectangular patterns of simplicity, Clarity and delicacy.
• Enclosing walls- Water features- fountains, hauz, cascades, chadar, cistern
• Garden pavilions
• Variety of trees- heavy foliage for shade, fruits and flowering
• Extensive use of the arabesque, floral and geometric patterns for
decoration, discipline, plants
Microclimate
Together, these elements created a landscape with serene environment, cool
moist winds blowing through the water channels and fountains.
The pavilions were placed along the water bodies, in the direction of the
wind, so as to make comfortable resting places.
Water Walls
To the nomads of the Arabian deserts, designing with water was in almost
• Inward looking composition
unbelievable contrast to their original and environment.
• Isolation of man made structure from chaotic surrounding desert
Their application of water as a design element was quite imaginative and • Emphasize family privacy of females
highly colorful. • Modest, humble to exterior
Water played many roles within the garden design.
• moisturizing and cooling the hot dry microclimate,
Water
• soothing the dusty wind. • Imaginative application of water features
• irrigating plants, • Colorful
• masking outdoor noise. • Emphasizing architecture elements
• producing pleasing sounds. • Generate pleasing sounds
• providing a source for ablutions before prayers. • Efficient methods of Irrigation
• emphasizing architectural elements • Humidifying and cooling the surrounding
The scarcity of water and the difficulty of bringing it to the garden • Soothing the dusty winds
compelled Muslim designers to develop efficient methods of irrigation and • Source of ablution
to embrace a high regard for water as the indispensable support of life.
• High regard as indispensable life support
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Water in the Landscape Design
Water-Limited natural resource in the
arid lands, hence used it with
restraint.
As an aesthetic element. it is not used
as a gushing, spraying fountain but as Water
channel
a gentle, single, thin jet of water
making soft, trickling sounds.
Cascades
pleasant
sound
Garden Pavillion were made along the water channel in the direction
Fountain of wind. The cool moist air made these spaces comfortable and serene
,Cisterns resting /recreation places.
Plants For the Mughals, cypress represented eternity being an
• Superb vocabulary of trees,
evergreen tree.
shrubs, and flowers from the
civilizations that preceded them.
• Poplars and cypresses gave Cypress was also a very popular symbol in Persia where
climatological protection. conventionally it was a symbol of female beauty.
• Elms, willows, and oaks gave
shade in summer and let the The Persians also added a divine dimension to it.
sunshine through in winter.
"the stately Chinar or plane tree is the tangible manifestation of
• Tall narrow-leafed-cypresses
were added to filter the dust the Tuba tree in heaven", with the Tuba being the archetype of
and to reduce windspeed within huge trees.
the garden.
• These were planted across the In the Mughal gardens, flowering fruit trees such as lemon,
entire east and west sides and oranges, plums, white kachnars and almonds represented
thus cast shadows across the
renewal, a symbol of youth and life, portraying a cycle of life in
whole garden throughout the
day. the garden.
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Plants
Plants
• Pines were used as a large scale contrast. • Poplars & cypress – climatological protection
• Citrus trees were treasured for their fruit and perfumed flowers.
• Deciduous trees –elms, willows, & oaks
• Fruit trees, in general, had a very high priority in the overall design
• Narrow leafed cypress filter dust windspeed
scheme.
• They provided not only food and daytime color but also a canopy over Along east & west sides east shadows across whole garden
the courtyard at night. This canopy restricted re-radiation losses from • Pines –large scale contrast
below and thus effectively trapped cool air. • Presence of birds-swans, pheasants, ducks
• Traditional designers circulated this cool air from the garden through • Citrus trees & fragrant and flowering plants
the house and garden pavillions, thereby creating a natural cooling • Fruit trees –provides food, energy, trapping cool air
system. • Circulation of water through the garden
• Animals, introduced to give animation to the garden, included swans,
pheasants, pigeons ,peacocks, ducks. deers and singing birds.
Mughal flowers were spring flowers. Lilles, tulips, poppies, anemones, cyclamen, A subtle sense of unity
iris, violets were all planted in Mughal gardens. However, during summer, peonies,
jasmine, carnations, roses, pinks delphiniums and hollyhocks were also included
white fragrant night flowering plants. The gardens of the Alhambra built in 13th century in Spain, and the Taj
Mahal, built in 16th century in India.
The two are superb expressions of a plain but powerful truth:
that for over a thousand years, among peoples united in religious belief
but as diverse in geography and racial origins as the Moors and the
Moguls, against all the odds of time and circumstances, feast and famine
there persisted unbroken a deep-seated love of the outdoors and a
delight in expressing it. And an abiding sense of affinity based on
understanding and acceptance of simple virtue and teachings of Islam.
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The gardens of the Alhambra built
in 13th century in Spain
Taj Mahal, 16th century in India
DIVERSITY
CONTEXTUAL
The Islamic garden contains constant interplay between
• the real and the ideal,
The designers did not site their gardens, buildings, in an empty space.
• practicality and fantasy,
Instead, the designs were conceived with respect to the context
• the physical and the metaphysical,
• the tangible and the symbolic,
They are reacting to the natural topography E.g:
• the natural and the urban.
Chashma Shahi Nishat Bagh - Stepped Gardens
Humayun Tomb- Tomb in the centre of the Garden
CONSERVATION Tai Mahal - Tomb at the apex of the Garden in context with the river.
• Variety of Flora and Fauna were part of the landscape. Each design has to fit into two environments: the natural and the urban,
• The diversity of ground covers, small plants, herbs, shrubs, evergreen the God-made and the man-made.
and deciduous trees species added to the material conservation in the
garden.
• Fauna included singing birds, colorful birds, peacocks, swans, deer,
fishes contributed to the ecological balance in the garden.
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Beauty
God is beautiful and loves beauty
Multiple use
Beauty without arrogance – highly decorated interior and plain exteriors • Islamic garden is a life sustaining oasis, benefiting humans, birds, and
• animals.
Conservation • It is an orchard/garden, growing fruits and often aromatic herbs for
Judicious use of limited resources like water. human consumption.
Gentle, single, thin, jet of water, instead of gushing sprays • Its trees provide food, water, and resting places for birds, and its walls
may contain dovecotes.
• It provides water for all kinds of creatures.
Contextual
Chashma Shahi , Nishat Bagh – stepped Interpretation
Humayun tomb – centre of garden
Taj Mahal – apex of garden due to rivers position The functions may be combined hierarchically but they ultimately have to
produce an organized complex of great internal clarity to accommodate
Individualism such activities as movement, formal and informal gathering, prayer and
Of ideas & actions meditation, individual and group learning, orientation and identification,
Persian tradition of char bagh adapted to local conditions and active and passive recreation
Multiple use
Islamic garden design was important because of :
• Life sustaining oasis
• Its own solutions of many great environmental problems - dust, heat,
• Orchard garden
sound, hot and dry summer winds, strong solar insulation.
• Became the great mediating force between the landscape architecture • Trees
of the Eastern world and the West, as well as one of the great • Water
inspirations behind many Renaissance gardens. • Solution to many environmental problem
• New insights and fresh inspiration. • Great meditating force between the landscape arch. Of east and west as
• One culture influences another or one civilization shares the heritage well as inspiration behind many Renaissance gardens
of a former one, and then build on it something new and pass it on to
coming generations.
• Beautiful in Climate response and material conservation and the
practices followed are still relevant in contemporary architecture
practice.
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• Landscape architecture under the Mughals as illustrated by the large ornamental gardens
which the rulers laid out in various places is an important aspect of Mughal architecture.
• The idea of these retreats was brought in from Persia.
⦿ The idea of planting the garden around the tomb was a homage
• Babur, the founder of the dynasty, commemorated his victory over Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 later by Mughals to nature loving vision of their founding father
not with a triumphal monument but with a large garden called Kabul Bagh at Panipat.
BABUR.
• Most of the principal architectural projects of the Mughal rulers were surrounded by park- ⦿ Mughals, instead, organized each of the natural elements with in a
like enclosures.
refined man –made frame woke of geometrical patterns
⦿ The groves of trees is dispersed into trees planted sentinel-like at
Kabul
⦿ Mughal gardens are of three types:- strategic points, the rivulets becomes rigid channels of water laid
• Bagh - I – Vafa along the cardinal axes of the building punctuated by fountains at
• Bagh - I – Chinar pleasure gardens regular intervals and rows of flowers flagged paths becomes
• Bagh - I – Banafshan tomb gardens decorative borders for the grass contained with in square
palace gardens quadrangles.
• Bagh - I – Badshahi
⦿ The Mughal garden attempted to capture natural beauty within a
India man made frame work highlighting the contrast between the two.
• Bagh - I – Gul – Afshan (Agra)
• Bagh - I – Hasht Bihisht (Agra)
• Bagh - I – Nilofur (Dholpur)
• Fateh bagh (Fateh pur Sikri)
Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir
Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir site plan
• The first terrace is a public garden or the outer garden ending in the Diwan-e-Aam
(public audience hall).In this hall, a small black marble throne was installed over the
waterfall.
• The second terrace garden along the axial canal, slightly broader, has two shallow
terraces.
• The Diwan-e-Khas (the Hall of Private Audience), which was accessible only to the
noblemen or guests of the court, now derelict, is in its centre.
• In the third terrace, the axial water channel flows through the Zenana garden, which is
flanked by the Diwan-e-Khas and chinar trees.
• At the entrance to this terrace, there are two small pavilions or guard rooms (built in
Kashmir style on stone plinth) that is the restricted and controlled entry zone of the
royal harem.
• Shahajahan built a baradari of black marble, called the Black Pavilion in the zenana
garden.
• It is encircled by a fountain pool that receives its supply from a higher terrace.
• A double cascade falls against a low wall carved with small niches (chini khanas),
behind the pavilion.
• Two smaller, secondary water canals lead from the Black Pavilion to a small baradari.
• Above the third level, two octagonal pavilions define the end wall of the garden.
• The baradari has a lovely backdrop of the snow mountains, which is considered a
befitting setting for the Bagh.
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Ram bagh
•The garden is a Persian garden, where pathways and canals divide the garden to
represent the Islamic ideal of paradise, an abundant garden through which rivers
flow.
•The Aram Bagh provides an example of a variant of the charbagh in which water
cascades down three terraces in a sequence of cascades.
•Two viewing pavilions face the Jumna river and incorporates a subterranean
'tahkhana' which was used during the hot summers to provide relief for visitors. The
garden has numerous water courses and fountains.
